If you would like to know more about what is happening in the Eastern Partnership countries or you would like to hear what young civil society activists think about the latest developments in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine – check out what our Local Correspondents have to say!
Our local correspondents shared their thoughts about youth policy and education, creative industries and social entrepreneurship, bullying in schools and domestic violence, e-tools for democracy and freedom of information, and many more. Please have a look at the articles produced by our local correspondents covering a wide range of topics and opinions by checking out our Civil Society News section and searching for the #LocalCorrespondents hashtag.
Our Local Correspondents:
Mari Chakryan, ARMENIA
Mari graduated with a Master’s in Geography from Yerevan State University, specialized in Geo-ecology. Simultaneously she was involved in the journalistic activities. Her career aspirations and many years of professional experience mainly have evolved in the field of environmental policy, environmental information, public participation in decision-making in environmental matters, and sustainability. She is a president of Public Awareness and Monitoring Centre NGO and a trainer on Environmental Governance, Green Cities and Ecosystem Services.
Read articles from Armenia here:
- COVID-19 and Creativity
- Social Entrepreneurs as Changemakers for a Better World
- Life in a Small Town or How a Ukrainian Town Motivates the Development of Small Towns in Armenia
- COVID-19 and Public Participation in Decision-making
- When a State of Emergency Unites People and the Government
- Women’s Role in Community Development in Armenia
- Keeping Green Human Rights via Green Justice
- Armenia on Its Way to Education Reforms: Lessons from Georgia
- Don’t Wait for the Opportunity. Create it! (Interview with the young leader, activist and change-maker Ozheni Avetisyan)
- Youth and Community Development
- e-Government tools in Armenia
Ismayil Fataliyev, AZERBAIJAN
Read articles from Azerbaijan here:
- Young Idea Generators
- Young filmmakers in Azerbaijan
- Non-formal education gains its momentum in Azerbaijan
- Social entrepreneurship in Azerbaijan: Our job is important to help the community
- Promoting cycling in Azerbaijan
- Mingachevir, the City of the Youth, and Civic Activism
- Salaam Cinema: Creative Community Space in Baku
- New School – New Opportunities
- Inclusive Theatre of Azerbaijan
- Model EU Council Role-Play Simulation in Azerbaijan
- 16 Days Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign
- EaP4EU: Joining forces for a win-win partnership
- Promoting Women Entrepreneurship in Azerbaijan
- Impressions from the Fellows’ Relay Event in Brussels
Valeria Volkogonova, BELARUS
Valeria works as Project Manager for the non-governmental organisation “Office for European Expertise and Communications” in Belarus. She is a trainer and facilitator in non-formal education. Valeria is also an editor of Thinktanks.by, an online resource for research communication. Her professional interests include empowering civic activism and grassroots initiatives, non-formal education, popularisation of independent thinktanks and research.
Read articles from Belarus here:
- Appr. 1K neighbours chats! How and why urban experts help local communities improve their neighbourhoods
- “There Have Been Three Waves, Two Disappearing at Hand of Persecutions.” Belarus’ LGBTQI movement history and a “new” future
- ‘Donating Their Cars, Providing Free Treatment, Giving Jobs’: How Peaceful Belarusian Protests Change Human Lives
- “Being in charge for more than 4 years is a way to stagnation” – How a Belarusian youth organisation has now been in existence for 25 years by changing its leaders every year
- Disposable does not mean sterile. Is the pandemic to save our planet or will nothing change?
- How COVID-19 changed life in Belarus: restaurants send food to hospitals, teachers sew face masks, and volunteers deliver them
- Crowdfunding, business support and foreign grants: where Belarusians activists can find money for their initiatives?
- Are Belarusians ready to take part in the activities of CSOs and civic initiatives?
George Chanturia, GEORGIA
George teaches civic education. For most of his professional career he worked on education policy. After graduating from Malmo University and returning to Georgia in 2012, he worked both in the public and civil society sectors. Since 2016 he joined the Georgian Coalition for Education for All and since 2018 is heading it as its director. He has an MA in Organizational Development and Consultancy and also in Cultural Studies. His fellowship in 2018 was about researching bullying in schools in Georgia. Alongside his interest in education policies, he is passionate about history and activism.
Read articles from Georgia here:
- New Approaches – the Case of Orbeliani Meti, interview with Keti Khachidze
- The Language We Use
- “Changes” (in 2021)
- De-Politicize Education
- Social Innovations and New Opportunities for CSOs
- Covid19 and the System of Education
- Labor Reform In Progress
- The Threat
- 8 and counting… and Recommendation to CSOs
- Covid19 in AdjaraTV
- Social Work(ers) in Georgia
- Happy New (Election) Year
- (Bitter) Sweet November
- Reactive, still reactive in Georgia…
Stas Ghiletchi, MOLDOVA
After graduating from the London School of Economics and Political Science and receiving the prestigious Chevening Scholarship, Stas worked at the Academy of Public Administration on public policy development and policy evaluation. Since 2016 Stas has been working as a public policy expert at the Institute of European Policies and Reforms. Over the past year, he’s been particularly interested in improving public transport by fostering citizen involvement through an established public dialogue platform between authorities and citizens. As one of our 2017 Fellows, Stas used an approach based on user perceptions to assess the quality of urban public transport in Chisinau and support the implementation of inclusive public transport services.
Read articles from Moldova here:
- Public Administration Reform in Moldova: Interview with the Deputy Secretary General of the Government
- Local budgets: What do citizens want?
- Chisinau joins Making Cities Resilient 2030 initiative
- Online EaP Civil Society Hackathon / “The Hackathon was the most significant event of 2020” – Roman Sandu
- The long road toward the new NGO Law in the Republic of Moldova
- Grassroots Matter: Success Stories of Community Projects
- Rethinking urban planning and city transport
- Children learning during COVID-19 Interview with Victoria Isac, English teacher from Cantemir, & Civil Society Fellow – 2019)
- Transparent money in Moldovan cities
- The View Outside Moldova Capital (Interview with Alina Butnaru, Coordinator of the Ungheni Youth Center)
- One Year Ends, Another Begins – Same Challenges Remain
- Future of the Eastern Partnership: The Next Steps
- Five years since Moldova signed up to Europe
Maksym Mazypchuk, UKRAINE
Maksym is a project coordinator in the civil society sector. His fellowship in 2019 was about increasing the digital capacity of Ukrainian civil society organizations and creating an innovative series of webinars. Maksym has 3 years of experience in communications and project coordination. His professional interests include non-formal education, digital and media literacy, information management, volunteer management. Also, Maksym has a Ph.D. in history.
Read articles from Ukraine here:
- Positive Change Despite All Odds: the Story of STAN, a Youth Organization
- How the Museum in Total Darkness is Raising Awareness and Empowering Community
- How a Ukrainian CSOs use G4NP opportunities: the case of PROVIDNYK project
- No bread to waste: e-platform idea for fighting food waste
- How CSOs React and Adapt to Challenges of COVID 19: the Case of Anti-Crisis Fund IF
- The Response of Ukraine Civil Society to Covid-19
- Engaging Citizens in Decision-Making: Participatory Budget in Kyiv
- Wikimarathon: Developing Bottom-up Content-making Approach
- Open data projects in Ukraine: increasing transparency, accountability, and level of governance
- The New Direction of Creative Industries in Ukraine: from Online Theatre to Virtual Reality